Country Music Marathon Begins Saturday

The Country Music Marathon and Half-Marathon will take place in Nashville on Saturday morning (April 30) with more than 30,000 participants. Montgomery Gentry will headline the post-race concert at Bridgestone Arena, while members of Diamond Rio and their fans will participate to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee. Danny Gokey will sing the national anthem prior to the race and raise awareness for his charitable organization, Sophia’s Heart. Other notable runners include the Weather Channel meteorologist Stephanie Abrams, The Biggest Loser competitor Dan Evans, Survivor: Gabon contestant Marcus Lehman and Christian music artist TobyMac. The race is presented by Nissan and will feature an appearance by Olympic runner Ryan Hall, who set a 2007 half-marathon record for an American runner with a time of 59:43, thus become the first American runner to break the one-hour mark for the 13.1 mile race.